Four newly crowned warriors exited Rivers Casino and Resort Event Center with their Cage Wars championship belts wrapped around their waists. Cage Wars 39 delivered an 11-bout fight card packed with thrilling finishes Saturday night in Schenectady, New York. The main card included Michael Doolen’s brutal finish for the Flyweight title, Jeremy Woolfolk’s punishing stoppage to capture the heavyweight strap, an exciting co-main event for the women’s Atomweight championship between Elise Reed and Hailey Hoard, and a dominating performance by Teshay Gouthro verse Nyein Maung in the headliner.

The entire fight card was streamed live on Cagewarsny.com. Cage Wars 39 was sanctioned by the USMTA (United State Muay Thai Association).

The seven-bout undercard kicked off with two tough super heavyweight fighters, Bob Buskey and Shane Seccombe. Buskey exhibited great confidence inside the cage as he awaited his opponent, Seccombe. The 322-pound super heavyweight, Bob “Jits Panda” Buskey converted that confidence into an impressive TKO victory. The “Jits Panda” delivered a barrage of strikes to the skull of Seccombe before eventually dropping him to the canvas. The “Jits Panda” will be battling against “Beeftrain” Travis Streeter at Cage Wars 40 on February 9, 2019.

Jose Carrasquero fought Jaheal Austin in a middleweight (185-pounds) kickboxing fight. Carrasquero displayed his high level of technique against a fighter still developing in the early stages of his amateur career. Austin though showed toughness after suffering a spinning heel kick to the body in round one and taking an 8-count. Carrasquero overwhelmed Austin in round two with his accurate strikes and devastating leg kicks before landing another spinning heel kick to the liver of Austin at the end of round 2. Austin survived the 8-count to make it back to his stool but could not continue as the doctor called an end to the fight between the second and third round.

Cole Alaxanian proved he’s a dangerous welterweight developing quickly as he landed several quick and effective strikes to William Brown before defending a takedown attempt and wrapping his arm around the neck of Brown suffocating him with a rear-naked choke submission in the first thirty seconds of round one.

In a fight which many believed had the potential to be the Fight of the Night, Corey Norman proved himself against Brazilian Jiu-jitsu purple belt, Nick Spencer. Norman tossed fellow light heavyweight to the canvas within seconds. Once Norman landed in side control he kept the pressure on as he maneuvered Spencer’s arm behind his head, pushing against the triceps for an arm-triangle choke. Spencer fought fiercely to defend the choke by Norman but the KC’s Fitness MMA instructor used the leverage from his pressure and position to eventually put Spencer to sleep. Norman’s impressive arm-triangle submission came at 1:18 in round one.

At 150-pounds catchweight matchup, Kyle Kahler and Derek Ellis delivered for the fans with some fast-paced action. Kahler came out strong finding success striking. Ellis attempted a takedown but Kahler reversed him and scored the takedown. Kahler continued to find success landing heavy strikes to the head of Ellis in this advanced amateur rules MMA bout. Ellis eventually used Kahler’s pressure against him to strangle the former Marine with a leg-triangle choke. Ellis’s submission came in the first round at 1:43.

Randy “Rambo” Lamb transformed into a wolf against Frank Mazepa in this welterweight matchup. Lamb, giving up a great amount of height and reach to Mazepa, eventually found his way inside of Mazepa’s hips for a takedown, changing the whole outcome of the fight. Mazepa used his reach early in the fight taking the back of Lamb and seeking a submission. “Rambo” persevered through and eventually earned his big takedown where he would take the back of Mazepa. Once on top, he rolled through with Mazepa and sunk an arm around the neck of Mazepa, where he would eventually force him to tap out. Lamb defeated Mazepa via rear-naked choke in round one at 2:10.

Lightweight Andrew “Gunshot” Geisler lined himself up for a Cage Wars title shot after dismantling Kreaton Crouse in the first round. Geisler improved to 3-0 as an amateur and proves he’s an upcoming prospect in the region. This undefeated fighter lives up to his nickname “Gunshot” as his hands are lethal. Packing knockout power and solid grappling-Geisler is developing into a well-rounded fighter with extremely high potential. Make sure you keep an eye on this young fighter as he’ll be making waves for a long time coming.

Main Card:

Michael Doolen and Scott Hartman were the first of four fights on the main card. Battling for the Cage Wars flyweight title, Doolen of Mohawk Valley MMA showed progression as a fighter through his timing when striking. Unloading two epic right hands to the face of Hartman, Doolen dropped his foe to the canvas in the advanced amateur rules bout and woke him back up after pouncing on Hartman while face first. Referee Michael Waltzer called a halt to the action at 1:10 in round one, crowning the “amateur mcgregor” Doolen with an impressive TKO victory.

In the heavyweight title fight, Champion Matt Boyce fought challenger Jeremy Woolfolk. Woolfolk pressured Boyce against the cage for most of the first round landing numerous knees to the body of Boyce. In round two, Woolfolk pressured Boyce again but after taking a few strikes Woolfolk looked for the takedown. Boyce tried to shrug off the two takedown attempts and found himself on the wrong end of Woolfolk’s right hand. After landing a few rights, Boyce got cut and dropped to the floor as the fight was interjected by the referee, Mr. Big Nels Larson. AND NEW, champion Jeremy Woolfolk defeated the “Tank” Matt Boyce via TKO at 0:40 of round two.

The co-main event between Hailey Hoard and Elise Reed for the Atomweight title earned these two warriors Fight of the Night honors after the two action-packed rounds they fought. This high-intensity bout included flurries by both fighters, Reed slamming Hoard a couple times as she escaped from an armbar submission attempt and eventually Reed locking up an armbar to submit Hoards in round two, at 1:11. Commentator Will Barry made an excellent point on the broadcast referring to who is next for the new Cage Wars Atomweight champion. Reed showed her talent standing up striking, on the ground grappling and her smooth transitions. I know I can’t wait to see what badass steps up to the challenge against the new Cage Wars Atomweight champion, Elise Reed.

In the main event, Teshay Gouthro put on a clinic against Nyein “Neymo” Maung for the bantamweight belt. Gouthro used his reach to keep “Neymo” from closing the gap. In addition to Gouthro’s excellent footwork, and changing of stances, he caught Neymo’s kick for a takedown. Gouthro earned a takedown in all three rounds of the fight. Each round started with the Canadian landing numerous strikes to Neymo’s smiling face and bringing his opponent to the mat. Once on the ground, he dominated the position while smothering Neymo with strikes. While on top of Neymo in the third round, Gouthro heard Will Barry and Kyle Carroll say “he has to be careful because Neymo is still dangerous”, and on that note Gouthro shouted at the commentators “He’s not dangerous” and increased the level of intensity of striking as he pushed for the finish. Credit to Neymo, he survived the final seconds of the third round showing his toughness inside the cage but Gouthro proved his record of 8-1 which puts him at the top of the bantamweight division and likely a move to the professional level. Gouthro dominated his way to a unanimous decision by a 30-27 score on all three judges’ scorecards.

Elise Reed and Hailey Hoard earned the MY MMA NEWSFight of the Night honors. This fight was the talk of the night at the after party inside Van Slyck’s (a bar just off the casino floor). The Carroll’s Corner MMA PodcastPerformance of the Night honors goes to two individuals with impressive performances at Cage Wars 39, Michael Doolen and Teshay Gouthro.

Cage Wars 40 returns to Rivers Casino and Resort on February 9, 2019. Tickets can be purchased by visiting Cagewarsny.com and Riverscasinoandresort.com. Be sure to visit the website to check out the upcoming fight card and make sure you follow My MMA News on social media to find the latest information about Cage Wars events.

Kyle Carroll is a Long Island, N.Y. native and avid MMA and amateur wrestling fan. He has been a part of the wrestling community for nearly 20 years. Carroll has six years of experience coaching high school wrestling. His father coached high school wrestling over 35 years, passing on his strong knowledge. Carroll has been reporting MMA news since January 2011. The former wrestler’s coverage includes the 2012 U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team Trials, 2013 & 2016 NCAA D1 Wrestling Championship, and numerous MMA events (Bellator MMA, King of the Cage, North American Fighting Championship, and Glory).